Day trips from Bangkok 2-4th of August, 2022

Richard and Theresa Orzek from the state of New York had been on a visit to Laos and wanted to do some birding before returning home.

August is a real gamble weather wise and for the most part we had dark skies and wind but somehow we escaped any rain. Most birds were new for them anyhow and though it was on the slow side we still got on to well over 100 species. No migrants are back yet but we did see some waders.

Day 1.

Pick up at 5 am and off to Bang Pra, Chonburi, a little over and hour from Bangkok.
The area is a mix of scrub, woodlands, plantations, grassland and even lower hills.
I have been wondering what has happened to the Yellow-eyed Babblers I used to see in this area but not for quite some time now. Well, Yellow-eyed Babbler was one of the first birds we got on to well! Very pleasing!

A Bright-headed Cisticola also showed very well so we had a good start.

It was darkish and skies were gloom. There had been heavy downpours the night before and things were wet. Little by little birds showed themselves: Indo-chinese Bushlark, Blue-throated and Green Bee-eaters, Red-breasted Parakeets, Lineated Barbet, Eurasian Hoopoe, Chestnut-capped Babbler, Grey-breasted, Yellow-bellied and Plain Prinias, Indo-chinese Roller, Cinnamon Bittern, White-throated Kingfisher etc.

Closer to the hillside we saw a Dollarbird but for some reason it was very quiet in this section.
By the reservoir it was more birdy as we had a Common Flameback pecking away, a few Lesser Adjutants perched nicely, a lone Painted Stork, a calling Blue-winged Pitta, a Stork-billed Kingfisher, a Green-billed Malkoha and a Racket-tailed Treepie were a few additions to the area.

We then had an authentic Thai meal of barbecued chicken, papaya salad, sour spicy pork rib soup and sticky rice

Half an hour’s drive saw us at Klong Tamru salt pans early afternoon. It was low tide but some shorebirds were still about. No use to try walking the very muddy tracks but the scope came in handy. Temminck’s Stint, Red-necked Stint, Long-toed Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Lesser Sand Plover, Common Redshank, Marsh Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover, Wood Sandpiper, Ruff and Black-winged Stilts were all seen well.

Yet another half hour closer towards Bangkok had us visiting Bang Phu recreational center.
No gulls there this time of year but some good views of Greater Sand Plovers, Black-tailed Godwits, Collared Kingfisher, Striated Heron, and some obliging Golden-bellied Gerygones were all good. Not to forget the many Javan Pond Herons in breeding plumage.

Day 2.

Pick up a little later but we still arrived at our site by 6:30. A rice research station in Pathum Thani always has a lot of birds as the use of pesticides are frowned upon.

To my surprise there were 5 Java Sparrows on one of the tracks. A new bird for my provincial list.
A Stork-billed Kingfisher came flying while vocalizing. A Brahimy Kite was building a nest. 10 Black-faced Ibises were feeding in a paddy. A Blossom-headed Parakeet on a bush was a surprise and I assume must be an escaped bird though it is resident in Thailand.

The bird we wanted the most was Greater Painted Snipe and we did see a single female bird. Such a pretty thing.

Other birds: Scaly-breasted and White-rumped Munias, Baya and Asian Golden Weavers, Common Moorhen, Red-wattled Lapwing, a pair of Black-shouldered Kites, Black and Yellow Bittern, a few smaller shorebirds and more.

We then shifted to Lat Krabang which had seen some very heavy rain and was almost unwalkable. It was very quiet but after some mucking about we got good views of Bronze-winged Jacanas, a Spotted Owlet, Indian Cormorants, 3 White-browed Crakes and Little Grebes.

Another Thai lunch and off to the King’s Park.

The park was very quiet as it was midday, dark skies and no migrants around. A few Brown-throated Sunbirds and some Coppersmith Barbets were the more interesting birds seen.
We called it the day.

Day 3.

Pick up at 5 am and 2.5 hours drive to Khao Yai. Kind of a gamble but we still did not encounter any rain though strong wind and dark skies lingered. Khao Yai was very quiet but for a first time visitor it holds a lot of impressions as the forest is healthy, the sceanery pleasent and various wildlife always reveals itself.

The radar station at the top gave us a good variety of moths attracted to the night lights.
Very few birds but a group of Bar-winged Flycatcher Shrikes. We then birded by driving back down the road listening for activity. It was almost dead quiet until we found some noisy Common Green Magpies. With them there was a Black-throated Laughingtrush. Other birds: Puff-throated Bulbul, Grey-eyed Bulbul, Black-crested Bulbul, a calling Large Scimitar Babbler, another calling White-browed Scimitar Babbler, a Great Hornbill that did not show itself as was the case with a calling Banded Broadbill. Ha!

We stopped at many places before having lunch at the restaurant at HQ. There are two options. Either ready cooked food at some stalls or a la carte at a restaurant. We preferred the latter and this time they did a real good job.

After that we spend time with butterflies of many a kind but did not add much bird wise.

The drive to Bangkok went well and though it definitely was a quiet day but Richard and Theresa were more then happy to have visited. We had heard the singing apes, the White-handed Gibbon’s, all over the park, something that needs to be experienced to fully grasp its magnitude.